June 9, 2003 Herald Journal

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

"The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"
came out in theaters last year, and is still on the "New Release"
shelves at the video stores.

This is a seriously flawed film (so, why am I bothering
to recommend it? Read on!) that got as much attention as it did through
the pedigree of its cast and the muscle of its producers.

And a fine cast it is. The four older women ­ the Ya-Ya
Sisters ­ and their protégée contain two of the movie
industry's most respected names ­ Maggie Smith and Ellen Burstyn ­
and one of the most recognizable ­ Sandra Bullock.

Dame Maggie Smith is an icon in the business, from the
time she played opposite Laurence Olivier in the 1965 "Othello,"
to her comedic genius in "Murder by Death" and "Sister Act,"
to the heartwarming portrayal of the elder Wendy in "Hook," and
finally in all three (yes, there's another one coming) "Harry Potter"
movies.

Ellen Burstyn's name on a cast list ("The Exorcist,"
"Same Time Next Year," "Spitfire Grill") has always
lent an air of sophistication.

And, everyone who has walked into a movie theater in the
past 10 years recognizes the very watchable Sandra Bullock ("Speed,"
"Miss Congeniality," "Hope Floats").

But there's even the Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan ("Tears
of the Sun," "The Others," "Waking Ned Divine"),
who's highly respected, if not as well known.

And yet this is a flawed film. So, I ask myself, "why
did it get as far as it did?"

It's not on the reputation of first time director Callie
Khouri, who is best known as the screenplay writer for Ridley Scott's "Thelma
and Louise."

She also wrote Lasse Halstrom's "Something to Talk
About," and, in "Ya-Ya Sisterhood," borrows most freely from
Halstrom's style in such films as "The Shipping News" and "The
Ciderhouse Rules." But she lacks his vision to tie a complex story
together in a way that is believable.

So, my theory is that the big push, the one that got it
as far as it did, came from the producers of this film.

Producers are the ones who put up the money and often control
the actual content, especially when the director isn't a heavyweight like
Spielberg or Scott. The viewing public rarely remembers their names, but
they are the ones who walk to the stage to accept the Oscar for best picture.

For "Ya-Ya Sisterhood," the man behind the curtain
that no one recognizes is Hunt Lowery, who has produced no less than 20
blockbuster hits from "Airplane" to "A Walk to Remember."

But there's also The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler. Between
the two of them, they were able to line up this great cast, mount a formidable
promotional campaign, and bring in some great musicians to work on the sound
track.

Which brings up my first reason you should see this movie:
the soundtrack. With T-Bone Burnett at the helm, who scored such a musical
success with "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," we are treated to some
delightful Cajun music and New Orleans Jazz, Tommy Dorsey and Duke Ellington,
Bob Dylan and Alison Kraus, Tony Bennett and Mahalia Jackson.

The only musical klunker is an example of how this movie
got away from director Khouri. There's a scene thrown in with a completely
unrelated Lauryn Hill song that does nothing to further the story; in fact,
it slows the narrative down at a critical moment.

There are several instances like this that challenge the
viewer's "willing suspension of disbelief."

Why is that scene in there? What happened to the other
siblings that were so important in the beginning of the story? How could
Bullock's character, an up and coming Broadway playwright, leave a show
in dress rehearsals and never even contact them?

Then there was the issue of believable accents. The film
is set in Louisiana. I lived there a couple of years, and no one talked
like that, or, not to that extreme.

I guess it's hard to resist exaggerating a regional dialect
for effect ­ think of "Fargo." But Khouri, who also wrote
the screenplay, established early on that all of the female lead characters
were natives of the Creole state.

Then she cast a Brit (Maggie Smith) and a woman who's as
Irish as a Guinness Stout (Fionnula Flanagan) as the adults. Smith makes
a valiant attempt to sound authentic, but Flanagan fails miserably.

The other reason I can conditionally recommend this movie
is that there are some compelling moments ­ most of which involve Ashley
Judd, who portrays the mother in flashback scenes. She's the most believable
character, and Miss Judd should be very proud of her work.

There's a good story of reconciliation between a mother
and daughter buried under Khouri's inept telling of it.

If you liked "How to Make an American Quilt"
(a very good film) and "Joy Luck Club" (a great film), you might
give "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" a try. Otherwise,
just pick up the CD of the soundtrack.